Small photosensitive article counter



Sept. 21, 1965 E. E. LAKSO ETAL 3,207,909

SMALL PHOTOSENSITIVE ARTICLE COUNTER Filed Nov. 22. 1961 INVENTORS EUGENE E.LAKSO WALTER J. DEMPSEY 5 mwg ATTORNEY United StateS Patent 3,207,909 SMALL PHOTOSENSITIVE ARTICLE COUNTER Eugene E. Lakso, Fitchburg, Mass., and Walter J. Dempsey, Middlesex, N..I., assignors to The Lakso Company, Inc., Fitchburg, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Nov. 22, 1961, Ser. No. 154,126 1 Claim. (Cl. 250223) This invention relates to a new and improved counting device particularly adapted for small articles such as tablets, .and the principal object of the invention resides in the provision of a small, inexpensive counter of the class described which is easy to operate. In this case, the emphasis is not on the speed of filling containers but on the low cost of the apparatus, which is for instance for hospital use, whereby an operator can hold a bottle or other container in position, start the machine, get the correct count of tablets, capsules, etc., automatically, the machine automatically stopping upon the correct count passing a given point, which in this case involve-s the use of a photoelectric cell acting .as' a counter in combination with .a commercial electronic predetermined counting device such as manufactured by Veeder-Root.

Further objects of the invention include the provision of an inexpensive counter for small articles as above described including a hopper in which the articles may be placed, .aguideway leading from the hopper to a point of counting and depositing in a container, and means for vibrating the entire guideway, to cause the tablets to move along the guideway one-by-one; in combination with an electronic counter including a photoelectric eye disposed at the end of the guideway over a positioning means for a container, said photoelectric cell being connected to a commercial predetermined counting mechanism so that when the count has passed off the end of the guideway to the container, the electric eye causes the vibrating means to be shut off immediately so that no further feed is made. At this point the operator has received the correct count in the container. The apparatus also includes either automatic or manual switching means to energize the device, whereby the operator can load several bottles, one after the other, replacing the same in the position for the container by hand and either flipping a control switch or having the container itself energize the control switch which can be located at the container position means.

The invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly set forth in the appended claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which- FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross sectional view illustrating the invention and showing the respective position of the photoelectric counting means;

FIG. 2 is a plan view, looking in the direction of the arrow 2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view in front elevation, looking in the direction of arrow 3 in FIG. 1 with certain parts in section and certain parts removed for clarity, and

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic View illustrating the vibratory mechanism connected to the predetermined electronic counting means through the photoelectric cell.

For carrying out the present invention, there is provided a base which may be of any desired construction but is relatively small and light and is preferably made up of sheet metal or the like. At the forward end of this base there is provided an adjustable bracket 12 mounted to a front piece 14 of base 10 by means of a bolt having a wing nut indicated at 16 for vertical adjustment of the bracket 12. The bracket 12 has :a bottom flange 18 upon which the container indicated at 20 in FIG. 3 may be set against a pair of guide means such as brackets ice 22,'the same forming a trough for correctly positioning bottles of different sizes. The brackets are conveniently adjusted by bolts 24 which are located in slots in flange 18.

Conveniently arranged on the base 10 is a chute generally indicated at 26 down which the articles pass into container 20 from guideways which are generally indicated at 28, these guideways being arranged on the top part of feeder tray 30.

Preferably the feeder tray comprises a sheet metal base plate member which as shown in FIG. 3 may be bent to provide a. trough-like arrangement indicated at 30. 'This member could also be flat but the trough-like member aids the correct alignment of the tablets T as they pass alongthe guideway.

The guideway comprises a pair of elongated relatively thick members preferably made of wood or plastic or the like, these being alike but reversed as indicated by the reference numeral 32. These members are spaced and each is provided with a beveled edge 34 which together assist in forming the trough best seenin FIG. 3, and it willbe seen that the tablets proceed down this trough guided by the beveled edges at 34 but with the tablets themselves finding a support on the base plate member at 30.

The members 32 are conveniently adjusted to and from each other to widen or narrow the space between them by means of bolts at 36, the same being located in transverse slots 38 in the plate 30 as seen in FIG. 2, and by the use of conventional wing nuts or the like these guideways are quickly and easily adjustable in order to accommodate tablets or articles of different sizes. Also the beveled portions at 34 continue into a V-shape formation at 40 as shown in FIG. 2 and this V-shaped configuration together with the rapid oscillation of the device, provides for the single in line travel of the tablets as they proceed down the guideway.

A hopper generally indicated at 42 may be provided at the rear of the base. This hopper may be of any description desired but extends into feeder tray 30 which has a rectangular box end. This feeder tray performs several functions. It vibrates the mass of articles. As indicated at 46, the feeder tray has a vertical front gate which is adjustable vertically by means of a bolt and wing nut as at 48 to provide for issuance of the various tablets out from under the same in the direction of the arrow 50 in FIG. 1. On the feeder tray guides 32 are mounted and these align articles in a single line.

A conventional commercial vibrator 52 is provided mounted on bracket 54 or in any other way within the framework 10, and it is connected to the guideway base plate member 30 as shown in FIG. 1. As well known, this operates to vibrate the plate in the direction of feed relatively slowly and in the opposite direction relatively fast in order to cause the travel of the tablets from left to right as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. The articles proceed to the drop-off point at the forward end of the guideway, this drop-off point being indicated in the drawings by the reference numeral 56.

As the tablets pass the drop-off and proceed downwardly in the chute 26 to the container 20, they interrupt the beam proceeding from a lamp 60 onto a photoelectric cell 62, and this photoelectric cell is connected to a commercial predetermined electric counting means 66 as made for instance by Veeder-Root, Inc., this counting means being adjustable from one to one hundred so that it automatically shuts off the vibrator 52 at any point desired, depending upon how it is set.

A switch 64 may be utilized to turn the vibrator on after it has been automatically shut off by the predetermined counter. This predetermined counter 66 is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 4 but it is a commercial- 1y available device as aforesaid and the operation of the parts will be clear to those skilled in the art.

As the guideway is vibrated, the small articles issue from the hopper, the flow being controlled by the bottom edge ofthe front gate 46 of the feeder tray, and the guides orient the articles into a single line formation as shown in FIG. 2. The photo head records each article which drops past the drop-off point 56 to the container, and when a predetermined count, anywhere from one to one hundred is obtained, the vibrating guideway of course is stopped upon signal from the predetermined counter as above indicated. The device can be started again manually by switch 64, or of course as will be clear to those skilled in the art, this switch could be mounted in such a way as to be contacted by a container as it is placed on the shelf 18 for the next operation. It will be seen that this invention provides an inexpensive device for obtaining an accurate count of small articles particularly tablets. This device is particularly useful in hospitals where it is not economic to provide a fully automatic machine but in which it is desirable for certain tablets, capsules, etc. to be divided or counted and placed in containers for use within the hospital itself. It is believed that the operation will be clear and that the same can be operated by anyone without any attention as to the count of the articles and without the necessity of handling the same in any way except for placing tablets in the hopper 42 and containers on bracket 12.

Having thus described our invention and the advantages thereof, we do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claim, but What We claim is:

An article counter of the class described comprising an elongated generally horizontal guideway including a pair of closely spaced side plates, a vibrator plate extending substantially the length of the guideway under the plates and forming the bottom of the guideway, means to vibrate the vibrator plate, a hopper at one end of the guideway, articles in the hopper issuing therefrom into the guideway being arranged in a single line therein and being carried along the same during the vibration thereof, said guideway terminating at a drop-01f point including a terminal edge for the vibrator plate, means forming a support for a container under the drop-01f point, and a photoelectric head including a lamp and a photosensitive means, the lamp being located adjacent to but to one side of the drop-off point, and the photosensitive means being located adjacent to but to the other side of the drop-off point, the lamp being arranged so that its beam passes directly under the drop-off point to the photosensitive means so that each tablet dropping off the guideway interrupts the beam, and a predetermined count control apparatus for the vibrator means, the photosensitive means being operatively connected to the control apparatus for shutting off the vibrator means and thereby stopping the progress of all the articles thereon when a certain predetermined number of tablets has interrupted the beam of the lamp.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,381,505 8/45 Lindholm 250-218 X 2,433,560 12/47 Hurley 250223 X 2,523,517 9/50 Potter 53--59 X 2,536,693 1/51 Oklicsanyi 250-223 X 2,950,894 8/60 Hillman 53--59 X RALPH G. NILSON, Primary Examiner. WALTERSTOLWEIN, Examiner. 

